Daughter Dreams Of Being A Flower Girl, Has Wish Immediately Granted By Helicopter Parents

Annabelle Earl, a four-year-old Brooklyn girl, had a dream of being a flower girl but no wedding to attend. With a long dress, bouquet, and a poster that read “Can I be your flower girl?” she took to Brooklyn City Hall to find herself a willing couple.

It sounds like a Hallmark moment, until we learn that the only reason this scenario went down is to appease the fact that her original wish for a unicorn couldn’t come true. Yes, we are actually seriously considering little girls’ requests for unicorns now. Earlier this spring, Annabelle’s mother Kim took her to Washington, D.C. They visited Yoko Ono’s “Wishing Tree” in a Smithsonian garden, and Annabelle whispered her greatest dream to the tree.

According to NBC News:

“Then she said to me, ‘Can I tell you what I wished for?’ I said of course and she said, ‘I wished for a rainbow unicorn for a pet, a real one,'” her mother recalled.

“I said, ‘Sweetie, those aren’t real. You can’t have that.’ And she was devastated.”

Some other options were discussed and Annabelle decided that if she couldn’t have a rainbow unicorn she would like to be a flower girl.

There was only one problem.

“We don’t have anyone in our circle close to being married,” her mother said.

Earl was not about to disappoint her little girl, so she came up with a backup plan. Annabelle would go to the City Clerk’s office in Manhattan, where 20,000 New Yorkers get hitched every year in a no-frills $25 ceremony, and see if anyone wanted her services.

Is finding out that mythical creatures don’t exist a life-shattering disappointment that we need to put a band-aid on? Are we obligated to “discuss options” with a four-year-old child when she doesn’t get what she wants? It’s a wish tree, the whole damn thing is meant to be hypothetical.

Despite all this, Annabelle’s City Hall adventure could still sound innocent enough, and even a delight for the couples there that day, if her mother hadn’t been prompting her to freaking solicit people to let her join in on the biggest moment of their lives:

“We stood there and she held up her sign and people walked past and would smile but no one came up to her,” Earl said. “I said I think we’re going to have to ask people.”

Annabelle surveyed the couples, chose one and approached with the proposal.

“The woman said, ‘No thank you,’ and I thought, ‘Goodness, this is going to be a long day,'” Earl said.

Sorry, I love kids, but I don’t want your adorable child to single me out to try to emotionally manipulate me into altering my wedding day plans. Eventually, Annabelle “pointed to another couple” and convinced them to say yes. “She was too adorable to say no to, and we thought it would be fun to make her day as well as ours,” the bride told NBC News.

When the ceremony began, Annabelle got a little nervous and had to be held by Kim. After the couple was pronounced married, her mom took her to a bakery for some “wedding cake.” She texted the couple a photo of Annabelle with the caption, “Here’s to a sweet future.” Annabelle says the best part of the day was giving flowers to the bride, and — sigh — she hopes to go back to City Hall again soon. Hopefully this time with some humility from Mom? [NBC News]